Phones Connect Me To You
by hashtagartistlife
Summary: Uryuu receives a rather peculiar phone call on a Saturday morning. [Ishihime, Ichiruki]


**So this was inspired by a tumblr post, the contents of which you can see in the notes at the bottom because it's a spoiler otherwise.**

* * *

 **Phones Connect Me To You**

by _hashtagartistlife_

His phone doesn't ring often, and when it does, it's more often than not bad news, so when the sound of the phone ringing shatters the tranquil silence of his Saturday morning, Ishida Uryuu is reluctant to pick it up.

"Hello?" he asks cautiously, fully prepared to slam the receiver down if he so much as hears a single chirp of his father's upbeat secretary or, heaven forbid, his father's unimpressed drawl, but what actually comes through the receiver takes him so aback that he accidentally drops it instead.

"Hello? Hello, Ishida-kun! Is this the right number? I'm so glad! Ishida-kun? Ishida-kun!"

"I—Inoue-san?! What—How are you calling me?!"

There's a short pause at the other end of the line, during which Uryuu can actually _see_ Orihime cocking her head in that way of hers—cheeks puffed out in confusion and a finger held to her chin—trying to work this conundrum out. "Um, I picked up the phone and dialled your number?"

"No, that's not what I— never mind," he says, deciding not to mention the fact that only his father's secretary and his father knew that he had a landline, let alone had his number. He changed it every few months to deter them, but somehow, they always found it out. "I just—it's Saturday morning, Inoue-san. Is something wrong?"

"Does something have to be wrong for me to call you on a Saturday morning?" she chirps, and Ishida shakes his head vehemently before realising she can't actually see him.

"No," he croaks, feeling like an idiot. "Not at all, I just—"

There's a gasp over the phone. "Oh, no! It's Saturday morning! You were probably asleep, weren't you? I'm so sorry, Ishida-kun, I must have woken you—"

"No! No, it's not that at all, I was—uh, I was awake—" A lie, but she didn't need to know that. "Um, Inoue-san, I'm really glad to hear from you, uh, wha—what can I help you with?"

Internally, he curses himself. _What can I help you with?_ What was this, a goddamn department store? He could just hear Ryuuken in his head right now. _Pathetic. Can't even talk to a pretty girl without going to absolute pieces—_

Inoue-san's sun-drenched voice interrupts the thorough dressing-down Uryuu is giving himself in his mind. "Actually, Ishida-kun, I was just calling to ask what colour you were wearing to the dance!"

He almost drops the phone a second time.

"The… the _dance_ , Inoue-san?" he enquires, having miraculously kept a hold of the phone through his massive internal turmoil. His glasses fog up, and he adjusts them nervously with a finger. "The… the graduation dance?"

"The very one!" is her sunny reply, and Uryuu has to take a second to collect himself.

"Why… why would you need to know that?" he asks, and Orihime starts chattering at full speed, apparently extremely excited.

"Ah, you see, Ishida-kun, I'm at the fabric store right now, about to buy the fabric for my dress, but I figured I should probably check what _you're_ planning to wear so that we don't clash—not that I think we would, your sense of fashion is impeccable after all, but—oooh, maybe we could match? There's a half-price sale at the Sunflower Tailor, we could go shopping together—"

Uryuu feels faint. "Inoue-san?"

"—be so cute, and blue is a wonderful colour on you—yes, Ishida-kun?"

His voice is hoarse. "Whe….I mean, please don't misunderstand, I'd love to, but— since when were we going to the dance together?"

There's a rather ominous silence at the end of the line. A drop of sweat makes its way down Uryuu's temple; he swallows. _Shit, please don't let me have fucked this up_ —

"Oh no," comes Orihime's voice after an eon, very quiet. Uryuu strains to hear her. "Oh, _no._ "

"Inoue-sa—"

"Oh, _no."_

"… Orihime?"

Another long silence, and then:

"….. I forgot to ask you, didn't I?"

Orihime's voice, absolutely mortified, and Uryuu feels his heart clutch in his chest. "Inoue-sa—"

There's a sniffle from the other end of the line, and his heart drops down to his stomach. "Inoue-san, are you _crying—"_

"Did you just call me Orihime?"

….. Shit. _Did_ he just call her Orihime? "N-no?"

There's another sniffle, and then a watery laugh, and the tight vice around his chest eases. "I like it, Ishida-kun. You can call me Orihime if you'd like."

A heady feeling of lightness spreads through his veins, and in an uncharacteristic fit of boldness, Uryuu replies in kind. "You too, Inoue-sa—Orihime. You should call me Uryuu."

"U-Uryuu," comes her voice, a little hesitant, stumbling around the syllables in his name. She laughs again. She has a really beautiful laugh, Uryuu thinks a little dazedly. He could listen to it for the rest of forever. "Oh, I made a right mess of things, didn't I, Uryuu-kun?"

He laughs, too. "Well, I believe that _technically_ it's the guy's job to do the asking—if you adhere to that sort of thing—so really, it's my fault too, Orihime-s— Orihime… san…?" he trails off at the end, still unused to her name actually taking shape at the tip of his tongue and not being held back against the cages of his teeth. Orihime's tinkling laughter soothes his embarrassment.

"I guess we're going to need a bit more practice to get used to this, hmm, Uryuu?"

"I guess so, Orihime."

"Well then." A huff of air, as though she's exhaling forcefully to steel herself against something. "Ishida Uryuu, will you please do me the honour of accompanying me to the Karakura High Graduation Dance at the end of this month?"

A slow smile spreads across Ishida's face, one that, for once in his life, he has no intentions of trying to mask. "Inoue Orihime," he says, relishing the way her name feels in his mouth, between his lips— "Nothing would give me more pleasure than to accept."

And then, as an afterthought: "You know, blue would be a good colour on you too. I can be at Sunflower Tailor in twenty minutes?"

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"Are you fucking—ahahahahaha— _kidding_ me—Inoue had to— pffftsfftsf— call you up and—and ask you to the dance herself—oh god I can't stop laughing—"

Ishida doesn't even spare him a glance. "And you've asked Kuchiki-san?"

Ichigo shuts up immediately.

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(Kuchiki and Kurosaki show up to the dance, dressed in a matching gown and tie, and absolutely insist they didn't come to the dance _together_ together. Uryuu grabs Orihime a drink, winds a midnight blue tux-clad arm around her similarly midnight blue draped waist, and rolls his eyes.

 _Children._ )

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 **So the tumblr post was: 'my best friend just called me to ask what color he should wear to prom and I was like "um? idk?" and he goes "well we have to match, so like what color is ur dress?" but he never asked me to go so I was kinda confused so I told him "hey, yeah since when are we going to prom?" and the line goes silent for a bit and he very quietly whispers "shit. I forgot to ask u"' and honestly if that ain't the most ishihime thing I've ever seen :'D**


End file.
